20100914

Recipe for Traditional Yorkshire Wilfra Tarts

Wilfra tarts are traditional apple and cheese tarts made in Ripon, Yorkshire in honour of St Wilfrid. St Wilfrid built the cathedral in Ripon in the 7th Century. Every year, during the first week in August, the local townspeople make Wilfra tarts and leave them on windowsills for passers-by to enjoy. A quaint tradition but I ignored that bit and ate them all myself. Here is how I made them.

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry

Apples

Wensleydale cheese

Preparation

Prepare some shortcrust pastry (I used suet pastry leftover from last week's recipe) and roll it very thin

Line the bottoms of a muffin tray with pastry and lightly bake the empty pastry shells until the pastry just hardens

Peel, core and cook 2 or 3 apples with a little sugar until tender

Fill the pastry shells with the cooked apple then top with a thin slice of Wensleydale cheese

Using some more of the pastry, place lids on the tarts then spread a little milk on top of each one and carefully seal the lids to the rest of the tarts

Bake for about 20 minutes at 375F until the tarts just begin to turn golden

Allow to cool thoroughly then eat

John's Notes
I cheated. I didn't have any Wensleydale cheese. It isn't always easy to get in Canada, so I substituted Canadian cheddar. I am sure that readers from Yorkshire will be horrified, but by gum, my tarts turned out very nicely thank you very much.

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2 comments:

i LOOK FORWARD TO TRYING THIS TART/PIE AS I WILL TRY WITH MY GLUTEN FREE PASTRY WHICH IS A NICE CRISP SWEET PASTRY. WE ALL LOVE CHEESE AND UPON READING THAT YOU USED CANADIAN CHEDDAR I BET IT TASTED SUPERB... I ASSUME YOU USED THOSE LOVELY MACKINTOSHES RED IN YOUR PIE? I WILL TRY MY FIRST WILFRA TART WITH GOOD OLD BRITISH COOKERS WHICH COOK TO A NICE PULP.

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